World Athletics Championships 1997/1500 m men

6th World Athletics Championships
discipline	1500 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	44 athletes from 28 countries
venue	Athens
Competition location	Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 3rd (preliminary) August 4th (semi-finals) August 6th (final)
Medalist Hicham El Guerrouj ( MAR )   Fermín Cacho ( ESP )   Reyes Estévez ( ESP )

The Athens Olympic Stadium in 2014

The men's 1500 meter race at the 1997 World Athletics Championships was held from August 3 to 6, 1997 in the Olympic Stadium in the Greek capital, Athens .

In this competition, the Spanish middle-distance runners won two medals, silver and bronze. It won the Moroccan vice world champion from 1995 Hicham El Guerrouj . Silver went to the Olympic champion from 1992 , Olympic second from 1996 , vice world champion from 1993 and reigning European champion Fermín Cacho . Reyes Estévez won the bronze medal.

Existing records

World record	3: 27.37 min	Noureddine Morceli	Nice , France	July 12, 1995
World Cup record	3: 32.84 min		1991 World Cup in Tokyo , Japan	September 1, 1991

The existing world championship record was not set and not improved at these world championships.

Alexis Sharangabo from Rwanda set a new national record in the first run with 3: 44.95 minutes.

Preliminary round

The preliminary round was held in four runs. The first five athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - as well as the four fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the semifinals.

Forward 1

August 3, 1997, 7:50 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Noureddine Morceli	Algeria	3: 37.26
2	Andrei Zadoroschni	Russia	3: 37.28
3	John Mayock	Great Britain	3: 37.37
4th	Kevin Sullivan	Canada	3: 37.42
5	Niall Bruton	Ireland	3: 37.57
6th	Antonio Travassos	Portugal	3: 37.70
7th	Said Chébili	France	3: 37.75
8th	Julius Achon	Uganda	3: 38.21
9	John Kemboi Kibowen	Kenya	3: 41.69
10	Balázs Tölgyesi	Hungary	3: 44.16
11	Alexis Sharangabo	Rwanda	3: 44.95 NO

Forward 2

August 3, 1997, 8:00 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Rüdiger Stenzel	Germany	3: 40.17
2	Kevin McKay	Great Britain	3: 40.25
3	Driss Maazouzi	Morocco	3: 40.39
4th	Isaac Viciosa	Spain	3: 40.41
5	Laban Rotich	Kenya	3: 40.43
6th	Vyacheslav Shabunin	Russia	3: 40.46
7th	Abdelkader Chékhémani	France	3: 41.02
8th	Mohamed Ibrahim Aden	Somalia	3: 41.23
9	Ali Saïdi-Sief	Algeria	3: 41.48
10	Mohamed Yagoub Babiker	Sudan	3: 41.54
11	José Lopez	Venezuela	3: 42.83

Forward 3

Luís Feiteira (here at the 2012 Olympic marathon ) did not reach his ninth place in the third run to participate in the semi-finals

August 3, 1997, 8:10 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Reyes Estévez	Spain	3: 36.20
2	Azzeddine Sediki	Morocco	3: 36.40
3	Mohamed Suleiman	Qatar	3: 36.64
4th	Graham Hood	Canada	3: 36.69
5	Steve Holman	United States	3: 36.75
6th	Robert Kiplagat Andersen	Denmark	3: 36.77
7th	Branko Zorko	Croatia	3: 37.99
8th	Alexandru Vasile	Romania	3: 39.01
9	Luís Feiteira	Portugal	3: 45.37
10	Scott Petersen	Australia	3: 50.65
11	Brent Butler	Guam	3: 58.29

Forward 4

August 3, 1997, 8:20 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	3: 36.72
2	Fermín Cacho	Spain	3: 37.16
3	Ali Hakimi	Tunisia	3: 37.43
4th	Nadir Bosch	France	3: 37.45
5	Gennaro Di Napoli	Italy	3: 37.50
6th	Ahmed Krama	Algeria	3: 38.02
7th	Matthew Yates	Great Britain	3: 38.34
8th	Piotr Rostkowski	Poland	3: 39.52
9	Jason Pyrah	United States	3: 40.17
10	Panayiótis Papoúlias	Greece	3: 40.30
11	Shane Healy	Ireland	3: 50.64

Semifinals

In each of the two semi-finals, the first five athletes - highlighted in light blue - and the two fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the final.

Semi-final run 1

August 4, 1997, 8:35 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	3: 38.92
2	Mohamed Suleiman	Qatar	3: 39.15
3	Ali Hakimi	Tunisia	3: 39.15
4th	Rüdiger Stenzel	Germany	3: 39.62
5	John Mayock	Great Britain	3: 39.69
6th	Kevin Sullivan	Canada	3: 39.84
7th	Steve Holman	United States	3: 39.97
8th	Branko Zorko	Croatia	3: 41.63
9	Said Chébili	France	3: 41.95
10	Antonio Travassos	Portugal	3: 42.01
11	Niall Bruton	Ireland	3: 47.51
DNF	Isaac Viciosa	Spain

Semi-final run 2

August 4, 1997, 8:45 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Noureddine Morceli	Algeria	3: 38.82
2	Reyes Estévez	Spain	3: 38.86
3	Fermín Cacho	Spain	3: 38.86
4th	Robert Kiplagat Andersen	Denmark	3: 38.92
5	Laban Rotich	Kenya	3: 38.92
6th	Nadir Bosch	France	3: 39.01
7th	Graham Hood	Canada	3: 39.13
8th	Gennaro Di Napoli	Italy	3: 39.45
9	Driss Maazouzi	Morocco	3: 39.99
10	Azzeddine Sediki	Morocco	3: 40.15
11	Kevin McKay	Great Britain	3: 40.21
12	Andrei Zadoroschni	Russia	3: 42.61

final

After second place in 1995 Hicham El Guerrouj won now the World Cup -Titel

August 6, 1997, 8:15 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	3: 35.83
2	Fermín Cacho	Spain	3: 36.63
3	Reyes Estévez	Spain	3: 37.26
4th	Noureddine Morceli	Algeria	3: 37.37
5	Ali Hakimi	Tunisia	3: 37.51
6th	Mohamed Suleiman	Qatar	3: 37.53
7th	Graham Hood	Canada	3: 37.55
8th	Robert Kiplagat Andersen	Denmark	3: 37.66
9	John Mayock	Great Britain	3: 38.67
10	Rüdiger Stenzel	Germany	3: 38.82
11	Laban Rotich	Kenya	3: 41.27
12	Nadir Bosch	France	3: 48.35

• 

  Fermín Cacho became vice world champion, he was Olympic champion in 1992 , vice world champion in 1993 and European champion in 1994

• 

  Bronze medalist Reyes Estévez

Video

• Hicham el guerrouj world championships 1997 , video posted August 17, 2007 on youtube.com, accessed June 13, 2020

Web links

• 6th IAAF World Championships In Athletics , accessed June 17, 2020
• Men 1500m Athletics VI World Championship 1997 Athens (GRE) on todor66.com, accessed June 17, 2020
• Results in the IAAF Statistics Handbook for the 2019 World Cup in Doha, Men 1500 m, Athens 1997, p. 119f (PDF 10.3 MB), English, accessed on June 17, 2020

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 1500 m men on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on June 17, 2020